People would'nt freak if new life was found

I just don't believe our average citizen today would be as shocked as they probably would have been twenty years ago. Most current scientists say that it would be idiotic to think that were alone in the first place, so I'm now pretty skeptical if Nasa has been hiding information from us this entire time.

I mean there are other space associations out there scanning our universe that would love to tell the people what they find, so unless there is some crazy uniform upper level agreement between these groups, then it has to be a bunch of malarky.

What we really need to do is find a way to burn down the media....if there is one thing I hate in this world, its people who base their opinions because of what they heard on T.V. and laugh at the possibility of distant life.

I think some people might freak out a bt, but I think the majority really would act rationally. I really wish we could confirm the truth.

I think most people would not care, they would keep on watching their favourite TV shows and talking about their favourite celebrities, ignoring the world around them as they do now.

I think the general assumption is that there are a few religious whackjobs who might object to extra-terrestrial life.

Ironically, some of the people who freak out might be the ones who believe.

I just wonder how the religious types would try to spin it.

I think the more religious people in the world would probably have a hard time with ET. It would challenge their belief system, which is a good thing, in my opinion. Extremism in any form needs to be tempered with common sense. Maybe ET can accomplish what no one else has been able to do with respect to religious overkill.

Naw...

Even the religious types (and more importantly, religious leaders) will figure out a way to make their belief system fit the the potential new reality of life elsewhere.

There may be a very brief time of confusion, But I think religions would quicky find a way to embrace the idea of extraterrestial life.

I definitely DO NOT believe the claim that world governments are hiding the "truth about extraterrestial life" due to a fear of societal upheaval. I don't think it would be such a big deal to the average human -- and world governments realize this fact. Although it would truly be an important event in human history -- even if the average person would be going about his/her normal routine as if nothing changed in about a week after the announcement, in my opinion.

[edit on 4/7/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by WiseIsAwoken

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Abominaayshuuuuuuuun!!!

Followed by anathema and proscription.

Followed by 'ethnic cleansing' on a Galactic scale.

Combined with evangelism of course.

Don't be so sure. I work with a few fundamentalists. They say 'there are no space aliens in the bible so we know they don't exist'. Any discussion of life in space and they get all huffy saying - 'that's the devil's talk'. I SERIOUSLY think their well-constructed version of reality would not allow them to see the reality of ET even if he/she/it walked right up to them and shook their hands.

They couldn't handle it. Most folks could. But these kind of folks .. no.

depends on the life and how it is found.

I think the majority of the planet would react positively if we found evidence of life on other planets, so long as this life isn't a threat to us. Now, if we discover another intelligent life form via a visitation or thru our space program, that might give the masses a scare.

This is why I think we will be spoon fed a series of "findings" to slowly bring about the reality that there is intelligent life out there and there is the possibility that they are as dangerous, if not more so, than we are.


As to the religion aspect, they'll simply say we are all god's creation and life on other planets are his work and the only reason we don't know about it via the bible is that it was left out because it didn't pertain to us. Or some other variant of this. When you follow faith and a set of beliefs, you find answers to questions that will satisfy those beliefs and that faith.

I think it would be too hard to judge how the general public would react to such an announcement until it happens. If E.T happened to have better technology in terms of weaponary then I could imagine an uproar, we would no longer be on top of the food chain so to speak, hence mass panic. Isn't it a common human characteristic to fear the unknown?

If the new life forms were of little importance (less advanced) then i'm sure the majority of people would want to learn more, rather than go on the rampage.


Sorry- Just noticed I was pipped to the post by Crackeur

[edit on 7-4-2008 by Knights]

reply to post by Astyanax

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I am with Astyanax on this one.

Look at how people already view other people! Other races, people of 'other' faiths, people of differing sexual orientations...look at how we view and treat the friggin animals! We eat them! What if the aliens look like the animals we eat! What if they look like 50 foot tall Islams! No I don't think most people are ready at all.

I think if it's just trees or oceans or fungi, then people would rejoice. But if we found a planet thriving with sentient life, I think the world would have a serious 'freak out', unite, build huge space weapons, and declare a pre-emptive Operation Liberate New Life jihad on them!

Sad but true methinks. We freak eachother out, why would it be any different with aliens?

I think that most of us will come to the conclusion that the Universe is, as we suspected all along, is a big place, with room enough for more than just those jumped up primates on the third rock out from an insignificant little star in the boonies of the Milky Way.

Either that or we'll all scream in mortal terror and live the rest of our days cowering beneath our beds...